Metal Gear Monster
by you'reprettygood
Summary: Alone and without a weapon Otacon must first escape his apartment building but where is Snake and what are the things lurking in the darkness? It's almost Halloween so have spooky fic! Possible Snake/Otacon, Johnny/Meryl, etc in the future :
1. Chapter 1

Metal Gear Monster

"Snake?"

Otacon picked his way through the debris that used to be their apartment. Approximately 20 minutes ago there had been an "incident" and the power had abruptly cut out. The only reason Hal had noticed came in the form of his Macbook's screen dimming after being transferred to battery power. Suspicion had set in first-Snake had often unplugged the computer after the hacker had been in his office for too long-but there had been no sign of the soldier. He had ventured further, into the rest of the one bedroom apartment to discover that it too had been plunged into darkness. Without much furniture bumping into something didn't pose much of a threat though he still managed to find every end table and chairs they had with his shin.

Things had gotten unstable next. A rumbling beneath his feet then silence preceding the collapse of the floor. Hal had almost gone down with the piece of linoleum covered floorboards but a lucky jump had saved him at the cost of a couple scratches on his stomach. The integrity of the building had obviously been compromised and his first thought had been an attack by the Patriots. Yet leaving survivors wasn't their style. Hell, leaving whole _cities_ wasn't either. They had to be ruled out of the equation leaving only a few possibilities-terrorist attack _not_ perpetuated by the Patriots, a natural disaster or something else.

He stepped past the threshold of the front door. The entire corridor had an unnatural slant to it making walking normally a bit of a chore but at least the backup generator had kicked in providing some light to guide him.

"Snake?"

The building gave a lurch pitching him forward to the carpet. He could hear screams but he didn't know from where.

"Is anyone in here?!"

Otacon got to his feet with the promise that he'd stay lower to the ground this time for balance then started towards the stairwell. With such an uncertain lean to the entire place he had doubts that the elevator would be operating and if it was he wouldn't be getting in it anyway. Elevators weren't trustworthy in such situations. _I just need to find Snake. Maybe he knows what's going on._

He descended the stairs slowly with both hands gripping the railing as he went down sideways. The building groaned like some sort of wounded colossus though it couldn't have been from his movements. It would come down eventually and he didn't want to be inside when it did. _Just 5 more floors and I'll be in the lobby. _The fact that he hadn't run into anyone thus far got pushed from his mind for now.

3 stories from the 1st floor the stairwell went dark. No lights. But something was down there. Something that made a growling noise that sounded close to a dog though he couldn't think of _why_ a dog would be in here because of the "no pets" rule. He swallowed thickly, hands shaking from fear and holding onto the rail too tightly. His sneakers squeaked against the hard stairs-the growling stopped. Footsteps now. Dragging feet and some sort of metal instrument sliding across the floor. _…P…Pyramid head?! No, get a grip Hal this isn't Silent Hill. _He slowly started towards the door eyes remaining locked on the darkness just a few feet in front of him. The sounds got closer, louder, the thing was ascending the stairs and would see him if he didn't hurry. One last ditch effort turned into a failure as he slammed loudly into the door with fumbling hands searching for door handle. A shriek rang in his ears punctuating the slamming of feet against stairs as the whatever it was closed the space remaining between them. Hal looked down for a second his hands finding the handle and yanked the fire door open. His peripheral vision saw an L shaped pipe slicing through the air just as he shot through the small space between wall and door. Metal collided with doorframe as the brunette pulled the door shut barely managing even that with his quaking hands. Through the small window he saw the thing smashing its weapon against the obstacle in its way. Purpley veins snaked across the greyish flesh of its face and bare arms and blood formed a spatter pattern around its mouth. He screamed at each slam of pipe meeting drywall. _Have to get out of here. Have to find Snake. He'll know what to do. _

He sprinted down the hall trying to ignore the building's protests and keeping his eyes open for more of those …things. His feet flew out from underneath him as he was tackled to the ground hard enough for him to feel the wind rush out of his lungs. He couldn't scream, couldn't fight, he could only lay there as the monster scratched at his face and neck. _I'm going to die. Not like this…Not without knowing what happened to Snake._ His breath returned with a high pitched yell that momentarily stopped the creature's assault. Long enough for him to push it away but not enough for him to get up and run. It had no weapon unlike the other one but it was strong-stronger than him. His skull hit the ground again when the monster jumped back onto him, hands gripping his collar and knocking his head against the floor so that he saw bright spots in his vision. Then it stopped.

"…Dr. Emmerich?"

He recognized the voice but his brain couldn't connect it with a face until his eyes slid slowly to look.

"M…Meryl."

"Damn, you're bleeding pretty heavily. Can you sit up?"

"Oh…I don't know…Wh..What happened?"

Meryl-both of her-shook her head, "no clue. Found you passed out here about 10 minutes ago. The army's been deployed but it was pure luck that we managed to get to the floors past the first. Most of the stairways are collapsed."

"I know. Elevator's…not working either."

She slid her arm around his back and helped him into an upright position though it made his head ache. His hand went to his forehead-the scratches definitely hadn't been gentle. They stung but nothing could be done about them right now.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here-this place could collapse any minute."

"Did…you find anyone else?"

The woman didn't look at him, shaking her head again.

_So then Snake isn't in here. Or at least they didn't find him. _A small group of men hung in loose formation at the edge of his vision each with his own gun-_she wasn't kidding about the army thing…_

"Akiba, get over here and help Dr. Emmerich out."

"Huh? Me Commander? Alright!"

The one called Akiba trotted over almost joyfully and took Meryl's place at helping Otacon stand up.

"Hi, my name's Akiba. I'm part of Rat Patrol 01 and that guy there is Ed and the other one is Jonathan. And…well I guess you already know Mery-I mean the Commander."

"My name is Hal Emmerich. But you can call me Otacon."

"Gotcha! Alright, let's get going."

"Akiba you're not getting paid to chat up the survivors so get your ass moving!"

"Yes ma'am!"

They moved at a slow pace thanks to Hal but managed to make it to the first floor where light flooded in from jeep headlights and spotlights. His eyes narrowed to slits as they adjusted to sudden brightness but this meant safety. The army knew what had to be done. _Snake…if you're not here…then where are you?_

In honour of Halloween I've started this Halloween fic! : D I'll try and have it done by the 31st ha ha. I'm not so great at writing suspense but I hope that this fic is at least somewhat interesting XD I'm being inspired by many sources-Cloverfield, Quarantine…all those sorts of Monster apocalypse movies LOL.


	2. Chapter 2

Metal Gear Monster Ch. 2

A medic had seen to him right away, cleaned up his face and checked for any other injuries then proclaimed him healthy enough to be kept with the other survivors. The group of people the army had managed to round up scanned him with their eyes-performing their own examination before allowing him to come closer to their small huddle. Wide eyed and most sporting wounds of their own they simply nodded when he sat down at the edge of the circle.

Radio static cut through the hushed pack of people as soldiers communicated with their peers in quiet tones. _They know what's going on…but they're not telling us about it. _Meryl had made sure he got to a doctor but disappeared shortly after to confer with her squad. He wondered if she knew that Snake had lived here too.

"What's your name?"

He looked up at the woman asking the question, "Hal Emmerich. But you can call me Otacon."

"Rose. Did you live in that apartment building?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

She shook her head, "no, the PMCs brought me here from a couple of blocks down. Off of Maple Street."

"…Th…This is all that's left?" he whispered, casting a glance at the miniscule amount of bodies around him.

"So far. You were the only one they brought out of that building…Alive anyway."

He shivered but not from the brisk air making his hair tickle at the bandaged cuts on his neck. _There's only 20 of us at the most. How is it possible that we're the only ones left? Snake where are you? _

Rose had dark hair-almost black-cut in a bob that fell to her jaw and blue eyes. Her features were strong though not as much as Meryl's with a downturned mouth reaffirming the worry her furrowed brow had presented first. She wore a white v-neck sweater with ¾ sleeves and black trousers covering white heels.

"Listen, Otacon…If I…don't make it out of here…And you meet a man called Jack with spiked blonde hair with a little boy with him…Tell him that I love him okay?"

"I…I can't do that…You'll make it out of here Rose-we're safe now."

"Just in case. Please," she loosely gripped his arm then reached into her pants pocket, "this is them. Jack and John."

"Right. Just in case if you see," Otacon pulled the picture of him and Snake from his wallet and pointed to the other man, "him…Tell him the same."

She nodded. They stared at each other second seeing a reflection of themselves in the other before Hal turned his attention to the asphalt beneath him. He could hear sirens in the distance, smelled smoke and saw crashed cars and demolished facades of buildings just beyond the borders of the PMC camp. Streetlights still shone as little dots in the distance but everywhere else had succumbed to darkness.

"What do you do…For a living I mean?"

"I'm a scientist. Kind of."

"What kind of science?"

"Computers mostly…" technically he hadn't lied-he _had_ been a scientist at one time and he still did consider himself one even if he didn't generally sell any of his creations to the general public. Besides, he couldn't tell her about the Patriots and the whole Shadow Moses incident.

"I'm…a Psychiatrist."

_She's hiding something too…I think. Snake said people hesitate when they lie. _"Ha…I remember going to one of those as a kid."

"Really? Even Doctor Emmerich had to-…"

"W…What did you call me?"

"It's nothing. Sorry, it was my mistake."

…_That was more than a mistake. I don't remember telling her I've got my doctorate. She knows something…_ "Who are you?"

She looked around then leaned in, "my name is Rosemary and I am a psychiatrist but I used to be a spy…For the Patriots back when I was with Jack."

"Wait…I remember you. One of the AIs Raide-Jack interacted with was named Rose…"

"That's right. One of the AIs your sister Emma created. Otacon I want to believe this is because of the Patriots but…"

He nodded, "but there's no way they could have anything to do with this. They haven't moved since Big Shell. This is something completely different."

The new understanding that they stood on equal ground when it came to knowledge of the Patriots meant nothing however other than to serve as comfort that they were not alone. She flashed a tight lipped smile at him pulling her knees up to her chest.

Minutes slid into hours until the moon had climbed high into the sky and the majority of the survivors had dropped off into restless slumber. Meryl brought them food stopping to chat with him for a little while but soon she returned to her duties. _I have to find Snake…_He shifted on the cold ground and looked for a way out. Running to find the other man would be ridiculous. He continuously told himself that he couldn't handle any further encounters with those things but…what else could he do? Snake could handle whatever was thrown at him-he would want Hal to stay here. _No. I can't…I have to know if he's okay. CODEC is down…The phones probably aren't working…_

"Otacon? Are you…Um…crying?"

"I'm sorry…It's…I'm just worried. About Snake. I mean…I shouldn't be."

"I understand."

He placed his glasses on the ground beside him and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

They didn't have time for another chat. The PMCs had started yelling, firing their guns at a yet unseen threat which woke the rest of the group immediately. Within a minute a soldier had them all stand up and rounded up into a tight circle. Hal heard a crunch as someone stepped on his glasses. He was as good as blind now. Screams cut any remaining silence into pieces-they were herded towards an undisclosed location with people surrounding them on either side. Rose's hand found his through the crowd of people pressing against his, pushing him forward. He stumbled, colliding with the pavement after tripping on the curb. Rosemary didn't have time to come back for him and nobody stopped to help him. _…Orders to leave anyone who falls behind. What's going on here?_

"WAIT!"

But they didn't. And faded into the darkness. He was alone again. No weapon, no glasses and no Snake. He looked over his shoulder-the PMCs were getting overrun even with their massive amount of artillery. The only option was to run.

I don't know what colour Rose's eyes are so I assumed they're blue since I googled it and couldn't get a decent picture of her eyes. I just kind of took bits of canon and chucked them on in there. : X They're kind of random but because I mentioned the Patriots in the first chapter I had to include them somehow :'D


End file.
